Tag Archives: Travis County Commissioners Court

In the search of a best path forward, Travis County is at risk of losing momentum toward better indigent defense if the various interested parties can’t find a middle ground.The county’s Indigent Legal Services work group has composed a draft…

Travis County has a lot to lose if the Texas Legislature decides to discard tradition for the sake of passing the four property tax relief bills that have been filed this session. After Sen. Paul Bettencourt’s Senate Bill 2 was…

The petition to create the Velocity Crossing Public Improvement District in Del Valle was unanimously approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court Tuesday morning after its third and final public hearing.As the county’s first commercial PID, the development has raised…

Some Travis County voters are regretting having approved over $4 million to fix a low-water crossing at Great Divide Drive in Bee Cave as part of the 2017 bond. Listed alongside two dozen other projects under Proposition A, the project…

Public improvement districts are becoming more prevalent in eastern Travis County, but commissioners are worried that not enough is being done to ensure that lower-income residents will benefit from the opportunities PIDs bring to their communities.Before voting next week on…

Emergency Services District 8 in western Travis County will soon be giving voters a chance to pay more taxes in exchange for much-needed service improvements.Following a public hearing Tuesday morning, the Commissioners Court unanimously approved ESD 8’s petition to hold…

Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt and former Texas state Senator Wendy Davis held a press conference Tuesday announcing their partnership in the creation of a Travis County Sexual Assault Prevention and Healing Work Group. Eckhardt and Davis were joined in…

Travis County has already filed bills for a third of its dozen legislative priorities for the 86th Texas Legislature since the session began Jan. 8.One of these priorities is to ensure that sobering centers are authorized to assume responsibility for…

In the absence of County Judge Sarah Eckhardt, the Travis County Commissioners Court talked food Tuesday morning.Following the city’s implementation of a risk-based food inspection system last November, Austin Public Health is now asking Travis County to do the same.…

The Travis County Commissioners Court approved the use of Certificates of Obligation to fund its new civil and family courthouse Tuesday morning.“This is not something that we just want,” said Commissioner Jeff Travillion. “This is a statutory responsibility that is…

Looking back on 2018 and at the year ahead, Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez says she is feeling pretty good.The past year brought some frustrations for the commissioner with the time-consuming necessity of briefing new county employees and residents on…

On a to-be-determined Friday in February or March, the Travis County Commissioners Court will convene to consider its vision and purpose on a larger scale than is appropriate during its weekly Tuesday morning voting sessions. Near the beginning of each…

No final decision has been made on the creation of a Travis County public defender’s office, but the Commissioners Court demonstrated firm support for the idea in Tuesday morning’s voting session.Gathering momentum after a rocky start, the court finalized a…

For years, when County Judge Sarah Eckhardt would try to talk to the community about the justice system, someone would quickly change the subject to transportation or other unrelated issues. Although it accounts for 50 percent of the overall county…

When Commissioner Jeff Travillion joined the Travis County Commissioners Court in 2017, he brought with him a rigorous attention to governmental process.“When I came here I said, ‘I don’t want to know that it runs; pull the hood up and…

On June 24, 1988, this sentence appeared on the front page of The New York Times: “Higher temperatures can now be attributed to a long-expected global warming trend linked to pollution, a space agency scientist reported today.” The scientist was…

Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty is not in the business of telling Travis County residents what they should want or need. Instead, both on the dais and in conversation, the Precinct 3 commissioner, businessman and longtime Austin resident resists the…

A lot has happened since the Commissioners Court last saw the Travis County Justice Planning Department’s asset map of strategies for jail diversion on July 31. Fortunately, in terms of keeping people out of jail and connected to their communities,…

The Travis County Commissioners Court is considering a merger of the County and District Attorney’s offices into a criminal district attorney office that may considerably lower the number of jail bookings for misdemeanor offenses.County Attorney David Escamilla and District Attorney…

A growing influx of vehicles to Travis County paired with the effects of the climate crisis has the county struggling to provide the infrastructure needed to simultaneously absorb the effects of both. At the same time, the recent Atlas 14…

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